Paulina Ana María Zapata Portillo (22 June 1915 – 28 February 2010), daughter of General

Emiliano Zapata Emiliano Zapata Salazar (; August 8, 1879 – April 10, 1919) was a Mexican revolutionary. He was a leading figure in the Mexican Revolution of 1910–1920, the main leader of the people's revolution in the Mexican state of Morelos, and the ins ...

, was a

suffragist Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

who fought for the vote for Mexican women and was the first female federal representative from the state of Morelos.

Biography

Zapata was born on 22 June 1915 in Izucar de Matamoros,

Puebla Puebla ( en, colony, settlement), officially Free and Sovereign State of Puebla ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its cap ...

, Mexico, to

Salazar and Petra Portillo Torres. Because her father was murdered when she was four and the family was persecuted by his enemies, Anita was taken to live with family members in Chietla, Puebla. When she was aged 20, Anita began working for feminist causes and joined the

Unión de Mujeres Americanas The Unión de Mujeres Americanas (Union of American Women, UAW) was founded in 1934 by Mexican women's rights activist and suffragette, Margarita Robles de Mendoza. The purpose of the organization was to develop ties between women in the region to ...

(Union of American Women), which had been founded in 1934 by

Margarita Robles de Mendoza Margarita Robles de Mendoza (1896-1954) was a Mexican feminist and suffragette. She was one of the most vocal proponents for Mexican women's enfranchisement during the 1930s and 1940s and often seen as controversial. She worked as a journalist an ...

. The UMA Chapter of Morelos was founded in 1935 with Zapata as its president. She organized women to fight for the vote in Morelos, recruited women from Guerrero to join and served as the president of the Puebla chapter as well as the Morelos chapter. She also joined the Partido Nacional Revolucionario (PNR) (the precursor to PRI) and fought for the vote from within the ranks of the party, becoming president of the Asociación Nacional Femenina Revolucionaria the

Institutional Revolutionary Party The Institutional Revolutionary Party ( es, Partido Revolucionario Institucional, ; abbr. PRI) is a political party in Mexico that was founded in 1929 and held uninterrupted power in the country for 71 years, from 1929 to 2000, first as the Nati ...

(PRI)'s women's affiliate. In 1946, she married Manuel Manrique, with whom she had seven children: Isaías Manuel, Beatriz Ofelia, María del Carmen, Julieta Ana María (Fanny), Lina Martha, and twins Hermenegildo and Justino. Zapata served in many local political organizations, as treasurer of the

ejido An ''ejido'' (, from Latin ''exitum'') is an area of communal land used for agriculture in which community members have usufruct rights rather than ownership rights to land, which in Mexico is held by the Mexican state. People awarded ejidos in ...

of Cuautla, as the land grant beneficiary of Cuautla, as municipal councilor and municipal trustee. From 1958 to 1961, she served as the first female federal representative from the state of Morelos as a PRI representative in the XLIV Federal Legislature. Zapata died on 28 February 2010, in Cuautla, Morelos, Mexico.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zapata Portillo, Paulina Ana Maria 1915 births 2010 deaths Institutional Revolutionary Party politicians Mexican suffragists People from Puebla Mexican women's rights activists Local politicians in Mexico Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Mexico) Women members of the Chamber of Deputies (Mexico) 20th-century Mexican politicians 20th-century Mexican women politicians

Biography

See also

References